Thinking about new fishies. Anyone have ideas? I still want to re home the coral beauty.

I really want to get a mandarin, and I believe I'm just OCD enough to be successful.

Other than that, I'm looking at smaller fish, (but not so small they won't be noticed in my tank. I want movement, I want personality. My six line is quite docile, but still I don't want to add anything too passive/shy.

Jawfish?
A pair of neon gobies?
Some other type of goby?

I had thought I wanted to add another wrasse, but the ones I like are really too pricey for me, and/or bigger than I'm looking for right now.

Rusty goby pair

Or eviotas or trimmas. Either way, if you want to order online and split the shipping, there's things I want from LiveAquaria or Sea Life Inc.

How about a Midas Blenny?
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...3&pcatid=83
They are not a percher like most Blennies, they like to swim in open water.
They look nicer than the pic too, with elongated bodies and a slight curve of the spine that almost gives them a little bit of a "half-moon" profile.

There's also the Bicolor Blenny
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...6&pcatid=66
They also look nicer than this pic, with neat facial markings.
They are a percher, but they are pretty active, with really cool almost clownlike personalities.
Spanko and Richie have one and could tell you more about them.

What's the Coral Beauty doing?

I think eviotas and trimmas are too tiny for my tank. Hubby will want to know why I paid for something he can't see.

I'll check out SeaLife and LA, and let you know. Have you ever had a jawfish? I've been telling myself the attraction is in the behavior/personality, cause I really can't afford a bluespot; but they're soooo pretty, and I don't want to end up disappointed with what I get.

Sea life has a yellow-headed jawfish pair that would be so cool!

Sorry, Weets. Missed your post. I will check out the Midas and the bicolor. My one fish failure was the lawnmower blenny (starved herself), so I haven't looked at any others.

The coral beauty occasionally nips at the corals. Especially if one is injured in any way, she decides it's her cue to feast. I hate to give up on her, I'm weird about commitment to critters in that way, but I also can't let her eat my corals. Guess I gambled and lost.

The Lawnmower Blenny is much more difficult to keep than the 2 I linked above, cause it has dietary needs that are difficult to meet longterm.

On a totally different note, I was leafing through my Vincent-Millay book for something good to share with you this morning, but all the poems I was seeing were too melancholy.
I did get a good chuckle out of the following two lines though:

"I, in disgust with the living, having read
Much of the accomplished dead, "

http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/product_info...products_id=146

http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/product_info...products_id=147

Or, if you wanna go big:

http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/product_info...products_id=268

Have you kept a bicolor? I took a quick look at both them. The midas is beautiful, but larger than I'm looking for. LA makes mention of the possibility of bicolors picking at clam mantles and LPS if not well fed. I feed fairly heavily, but I'm nervous given my experience with the coral beauty. Sigh, I know, I'm picky, picky, picky.

Love the Millay quote! I've been thinking a lot about writers/writing in the past couple of days; and I think the common theme in writers that I love is honesty. Regardless of style, genre, or form, there is something that screams truth and honesty in all of the writers I admire.



Following the path of these links now, thanks!

http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemD...&ddid=75380

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...&pcatid=150

or any of the other firefish.

On sale! And John at ReefCleaners sells barnacle homes:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...&pcatid=748

Small school?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...&pcatid=113

Ooooh, I need a bigger tank! So many tempting choices. Thanks for the links

The basslet doesn't do it for me, though. So similar to my six line, I think it would be begging him to become more aggressive. And very funny on the $$$$ shrimp goby pair. Beautiful, no doubt--go for it.

The zebra barred dartfish is very cool!

Mated yellow jaw pair? Very, very tempting. Mated neon gobies? Even more tempting. Blue spot on sale??!!! I love that fish! Wanna build me a screen top? I saw LA has a red tailed mandarin on sale too...

Chromis just don't do it for me. Pretty in other people's tanks, I'm just not drawn to them.

Measure the dimensions of the tank opening and then PM this guy and get some 1/4" mesh (I'm getting some for my tank). Then we can work on getting a top for you.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=212942

Did you already order mesh from him? The tank is a standard 45g, 36" x 12" Don't quite understand how you work around the hob and overflow box.

We could make cutouts in the frame to account for those.

And yeah, I've already ordered. Sorry

That's ok. Do you know if there Is a store I can get the mesh from, though? It truly is easier for me to stick to budget when I can use cash and avoid shipping.

You can try to find a hardware store that carries bird mesh - but you won't find that 1/4" stuff anywhere. Acro bought a 10' long roll of it from an industrial carrier. The stuff you'll find will probably run you the same amount as if you bought the 1/4" stuff and had it shipped and it won't be as good.

I checked home depot on 23rd and they didn't carry anything of use. Not sure what you have up your way. I'm going to try the Lowes in brooklyn tomorrow for the screen kit.

OK, I need to be practical. I can't do this. A fish that will require me buying a top and a barnacle home, and probably rubble, is just ridiculous for me right now. There are other good choices of fish that I like that won't involve multiple other purchases.

I'm pretty sure my kiddos won't consider new critters for my tank appropriate Christmas presents for them. Not to mention how upset and guilty I would be if I wound up crashing my tank because of my own impatience and greed.

Sometimes it sucks to be a grown-up.

Rusty gobies?

Ok, ok, lol. I'll look again at the rusty gobies. I'm strongly considering the mated pair of neons, too.

neons would be pretty too. let me know and I'll split shipping.

get a mated pair of clown gobies.

them ting's r awsomer!

The zebra barred dartfish is very cool. I was looking at them the other day on divers den. What about a tailspot blenny their cute I had a bi color he jumped out very cool fish . I just picked up a firefish OOOh I know how interesting LOL he was cute I like small fish. As for netting I picked up deer netting at home depot awhile ago you can look into that and criscross it so the holes are smaller. If you were closer I would give you some of what I have. I have plenty. It was a huge roll. Happy Fish Hunting

Did you get the interceptor i sent you?

I'm thinking, I'll let you know, I promise.



Clown gobies are awesome! I love how they look, but I'm afraid they'll irritate the sps I have.




Hi Kim! Which firefish did you get? I don't know why, but I don't love the tailspots. S'okay about the netting. When I took a breath to think about it, I realized it wasn't just one thing needed to keep a jawfish happy and healthy, it's a list! Yanno what they say, lots of other fish in the sea.



I didn't get the interceptor. When did you send it?

I got just a regular orange one. He's boring Lol just sits in one spot. I love my tailspot Dudley. he has so much personality One of my fav fish. I wanted a jawfish real bad A pearly one. Since the blackcap took all the shells I'm afraid they would fight over them so i don't get one now. As for the netting to make a top on my old 45 the one u have I took egg crate cute it around all the stuff hanging in the tank then I cut out the inside leaving a good border and the center brace part and I tied on netting with rope then painted it all



Thats what it looked like

i liked that idea

Yeah it worked out great till I stepped on it LOL I made a new one. Now on the 75 I have window frame with the netting.

i just might do something like that for my 40b.

cause my 5.5g will have an acrylic lid

It was all I could think of wasn't a bad idea and plus I needed a project. If you need netting Marc let me know I have plenty. I would crisscross it also like I did on the 75. Well I'm off to put the Christmas lights up since it's really warm out.

Mes thinks this thread needs moar pictarz.

PS. NEON GOBIES!!!

tuesday - let me know if it doesn't get there by monday/tuesday and i'll bring the other pill with me when I come by for the frags.

I'll let you know, and I'm sending a PM.

Update.

I dipped the acro. No more redbugs, but no polyp extension, either. I'll give it some time, I have other frags that took a long time to extend polyps, but once they did, they've done well.

The pink poci frag retracted its polyps two days after joining the tank, still hasn't extended yet, but it doesn't look sick, so waiting on that one too.

New stuff. Lots!! From BibleSue, I got some blue cloves , green encrusting gorgonian, beautiful green polyps, gsp, and a couple of other zoas that haven't fully opened yet.

From Live Aquaria, couple of new snails and a mandarin. Woo HOO!!!!!! So delicate, so pretty. Oh yeah, and a dead fromia. I'm sure it started its journey alive and well, but by the time it arrived it was downright stiff, the legs were crumbling, and I felt safe calling them up and saying, "That, sir, is an EX-starfish." (any Monty Python fans here?) Live Aquaria was lovely to deal with, credited my acct right away, no problems.

While I have no out and out complaints about the packaging/shipping from LA, I have to say the corals from Bible Sue were more securely packed.

Last night my frag of watermelon (I think) zoas fell onto the frag of GSP. Guess who won? Unfortunately, the watermelons had just begun a spectacular comeback. I'm hoping they'll begin to thrive again, but I have to admit, I am no zoa queen.

Pics to follow soon, have to sort them and upload to photobucket.

Thanks for reading,
~Anne

BibleSue is an excellent shipper.
Guess who taught her?
Actually, we both learned from Mvite and did little things to improve on his method as we gained more experience.

The Watermelon Zoas will probably be fine, I'd do an Iodine/lugol's type dip on 'em just to help em recover.

Just thought this was cool, view from my balcony


Tennessee arrives!


Next day, live aquaria


Mandarin!


Plate and new snail


Growth of green cap seen from underneath


Striped mushie


Brain


Birdsnest--notice weirdness on tip of upper left branch


Just cause it's pretty


Mystery zoas from Sue, waiting to open


Acro; sin redbugs


Acans with new snail


Love these new green polyps!


Zoas and new GSP


GSP and new Blue Cloves!


FTS


Pattern of pink zoas spreading


Frogspawn and hammer


Chalice (not mine, only holding it), thought it was cool how the eyes have been more visible this week


Cool plating beginning on red monti cap


ric garden


all my pretty ones


I WILL find the perfect spot for this pink poci!

Me likey

Thanks, L!

All I can say is you must be an excellent teacher.

Funny, I'm happy that the tank doesn't look so sparse anymore, but as it fills it gets more difficult to place things--and I spend a lot more time cursing this tank's depth; wet up to my armpit and straining my shoulder every time I need to do something.

Looks good. I had poci under a 250w halide and placed it near the bottom and off to the side a bit. Not in the shade, just low and away. Now that I've switched to T-5's I've got a poci frag about halfway up sitting out in the open. I had great growth in the halide situation and have had moderate success with the T-5 situation. For some reason they're really delicate for me. Good luck with it.

Bill

perdy mandarin

Things are looking good! I know what you mean about being arm deep in this stuff.... my 29g is so tall compared to my 20L tank. Anytime I want to do something toward the bottom of the tank, I basically have to prepare for diving!

Thanks Bill! I have a green poci that's done really well for me under the T5s, though it took some time. It was not in good shape when I got it. I'm hoping the pink will adjust just as well.



Thanks, cosmo! She's getting more comfortable as the day has gone out, venturing further towards the front to find the choicest pods.




Hi Tyler! Thanks! LOL, I'm quite the one-woman comedy routine when trying to get anything done towards the bottom of the tank. On my toes on the stepstool,fingertips just scraping the sand, "oh shoot! There it is, there it is...OH! almost had it. Ok, one more time, YIKES, what the heck was that?!"

That was one MASSIVE (thats what she said) update!

your tank is lookin AWESOME Anne! keep up teh good workz!

PS dija get ridda your bugs?
cuz they scare me

Haha I can just imagine how funny it looks! Luckily I built my stand low enough that the rim is just below my shoulder, so I don't need any help getting over it. It's still rough reaching the bottom though, so usually once something goes there, it stays there.

My, fancy meeting you here, Nate.

I think my photography motto is quantity, not quality. Catchy, no?

Redbugs are gone, it only took one dip with the Interceptor. Now I'm just waiting for the polyps to come out. It's growing, and has kept its color, so I figure it's still ok.



Tee hee, I'm guessing you're 5 or 10" taller than I am, Tyler. If the rim of my 24" high tank was below my shoulder, my dog would think I had given him a big bowl. Actually, that was the thought hubby and I had when we first saw the Zero Edge.

No one else thought the pigeon on top of the stone bird was cool?

Great new stuff Anne!

LOl @ the vision of poor reefer up to the pit disparately trying to grasp the ever elusive ( yet totally motionless ) frag.




....and yes, I did think the shot of the pidgeon on the stone bird was cool.

A tad redundant, but cool nonetheless.

Hi Richie! Thanks I'm pretty happy with how the tank is taking shape. Now I need to start working on the camera skills--hence, playing with the camera out on the balcony.

Now, please excuse me while I put myself into a sugar coma eating the guava cookies my mother in law just sent over.

Haha big dog bowl... yeah, that would be a trip! I'm right around 6', but my tank doesn't sit all that far from the floor. If I remember right, my stand is between 30 and 36" tall.

Oh, and I liked the birdie picture too!

i think thats an awesome motto!


YAY!

Tank is looking good. I hated my 45 for that reason of not being able to reach the bottom. It stunk. Water running down your armpit to your tummy LOL I got another new fishy a scooter blenny cool little guy. Will post pics tomorrow night been getting my christmas village going today. I Also like the bird on the stone Very cool !!!

Yay!